Facebook Can Be Held Liable For Not Protecting Against Underage Sex Trafficking, Court Rules

Facebook has suffered a major defeat Thanks to the Texas Supreme Court. They are being sued over facilitating a child sex ring and tried to get out of it by declaring they are protected by Section 230. But, they have no problem censoring conservatives but does that keep them so busy they can’t do anything about a site that runs a teen sex ring. This just goes to show you that you don’t mess with Texas.

They can appeal to the Supreme Court but I doubt they would even take the case, meaning that the Texas Supreme Court’s ruling stands. This could cost Facebook dearly. If they make a settlement or have a big judgement against them, it could embolden others to sue over various actions instituted by Facebook. I would like to see a successful lawsuit against Facebook for censoring conservatives.

Business Insider reported:

The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that Facebook can be held liable for sex traffickers that use its platform to recruit and prey on child victims.

As the Houston Chronicle reported, the ruling followed three local lawsuits involving teenage victims who had met their traffickers through Facebook’s messaging tools. The plaintiffs said Facebook was negligent and did not attempt to key sex trafficking off its technology.

Facebook has argued that it is shielded by the protections of Section 230 — part of an internet law that states online platforms are not liable for what people post on their services — and should therefore not be held responsible for what is posted on its platform.

But the Texas Supreme Court said Section 230 doesn’t mean Facebook can operate as a “lawless no-man’s-land,” as the Chronicle reported.

Landmark ruling

Three victims of child sex trafficking sued Facebook in Texas for allowing reciters to operate on their platform

FB argued 230 gave them immunity

TX Supreme Court ruled 230 does not https://t.co/WrT2YsOyhp

— Poso (@JackPosobiec) June 26, 2021

According to the Human Trafficking Institute’s 2020 Federal Human Trafficking Report, 65% of online sex trafficking took place on Facebook.

CBS News reported:

Data from the last two decades included in the human trafficking report showed that 30% of all victims identified in federal sex trafficking cases since 2000 were recruited online.

In 2020 in the U.S., 59% of online recruitment of identified victims in active cases took place on Facebook alone. The report also states that 65% of identified child sex trafficking victims recruited on social media were recruited through Facebook.

Twitter is also being sued for the same thing. A boy had his picture placed on Twitter and when he complained, Twitter told him the picture did not violate their standards. Another victim then joined the lawsuit. Hope it costs them a fortune.